(258) Not the best day.

I'm having a really hard time wanting to blog today.

Today, I have felt overwhelmed, tired, maybe a little grumpy, frustrated...It has been a fight to stay positive today. But, I feel like I need to write today in order to remind myself how blessed I am, even on the hard days when things don't go particularly well.

So here we go:

I had one of those days that just doesn't seem to click. Today is supposed to be my "miscellaneous day." A day I have set aside to work on projects and things that I find a little more relaxing than housework. But, in order to get to the projects I wanted to, I first had to fold laundry. Then I had to put the girls down for a nap. Then I had to keep putting Owyn back in bed. I was exhausted, so I took a 20-minute nap and Lily woke up when I did. Owyn never did sleep, so she got up then too. Then I had to feed them, clean up lunch, prepare for dinner, exercise...

By the time I got to my project, it was already 3:00. (I should note that on days when I work (every day but Sunday and Monday), I have to have dinner ready by 5:00 so we can be done by 5:30 or 5:45 so we can clean up all the toys and vacuum, get ready for bed, and have the kids in bed by 7:20 so I can work at 7:30. Geesh! I get stressed out just writing it down!)

Both girls were pretty happy, but a little emotional as a result of short/no naps. They spent a lot of time pulling at me, crying if I put them down, screaming (albeit sometimes in glee), and clinging.

Mike got home at 4:00 and was a perfect husband when I told him I was feeling a little stressed. He asked what I needed him to do. Soon thereafter, he had taken the girls to McDonalds and left me at home in the quiet to take a nice, long, hot shower.

Now, I know this is getting long. You can stop reading there if you want to. I don't mind. This next part is where the bad day peaks and where I really need to find some things to be grateful for. I am writing now completely for me.

As I got out of the shower, I heard the phone ringing. I picked it up right as it transferred to voice mail. A minute after that, though, the same number called back. I answered it and Mike was there telling me there had been an accident. (I will tell you here, so that you don't worry, that everyone is fine. No injuries at all. Mike and I are a bit shaken, though.)

He had stopped at our friends' house to drop off a movie. He left the girls in the van, ran up to the door, gave them the movie, turned around, and the van was gone.

He thought he had put it in Park, but actually had accidentally left it in either drive or neutral. The van rolled across the lawn, down a steep embankment, and landed nose first against the small ditch by the road.

When I got there with the car, there were fire trucks and police cars all over. They tried to redirect me, until they heard me saying, "That's my family."

The paramedics talked to me and told me that the girls are amazingly fine. They weren't even crying when Mike got to the van. Lily was fussing a little and Owyn just asked him, "what happened?" They didn't even have marks where their seatbelts were. Lily has a little mark on her chin, but we're not sure if she got that in the accident or if she bumped into a wall once we got home!

The van could have been worse. The front tire rod (the part that attaches it to the steering mechanism) is broken and the front fender and headlight are pretty smashed up. All of this really is minor damage and Mike thinks he can fix it all pretty easily.

So, today, I am grateful. I am so grateful that van stopped at the ditch (if it had crossed the road, they would have gone down a steeper, bigger hill and things would have been much worse). I am grateful no cars were on the road to hit them.

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful that we pray for each other and that Heavenly Father was protecting my babies. I am grateful for car seats that hold them tight.

I am grateful for a husband who was trying to help me have a better day. I am grateful that he loves his daughters so much. I am grateful that he knows how to fix cars.

I am grateful for our friends the Philburns who helped so much and then gave us a pizza for dinner.

I am grateful that my work let me start late tonight so that I could take a little extra time to hug and cuddle and kiss and love Owyn and Lily.

I am grateful for my life and their lives and all the lives that touch ours. I am grateful that I have so many things to love and be overwhelmed by.